Documents & Reports

This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Migration and mental health : evidence from a natural experiment, began in the year 2002 in Tonga. The study observed that people migrate to improve their well-being. Yet ... See More +This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Migration and mental health : evidence from a natural experiment, began in the year 2002 in Tonga. The study observed that people migrate to improve their well-being. Yet a large literature suggests that migration can be a stressful process, with potentially negative impacts on mental health. However, to truly understand the effect of migration one must compare the mental health of migrants to what their mental health would be had they stayed in their home country. Migration leads to mental health improvements, particular for women and for migrants with a lower baseline mental health. It is unlikely that changes in income, employment and smoking behavior explain a significant amount of the change in mental health. Funding for the study derived from World Bank, Stanford University, the Waikato Management School, Mardsen Fund.
See Less -